Never Mine
by Amy-McClair
Summary: This is a day in the life of my Earthdawn party. Please read and review. Rating is for violence.


"A, what are you going to do today?" Rain asked as she got dressed in a set of peasant garb. She tied her hear back with a strip of cloth.

Pulling on her new elf-weave robes and affixing her elemental brooch to her left shoulder, Amarantha turned toward Rain. While running a comb through her short blond hair, she responded, "I am teaching some kid new skills. I think he shows some real potential as an elementalist."

The blond sat down on the edge of the bed and queried, "Do you have any plans for today?"

"Yeah, I got a job with a mining company. I get a portion of whatever I find." She pulled on her cloak and made her way to the door, motioning Amarantha to follow. Together, they proceeded downstairs to the common room for breakfast.

Upon their arrival in the dining area, the two found the rest of their party starting their days. Con, a 9 foot 2 inch troll was sitting at a table in the corner already drinking heavily. Na'al, a blue t'skrang scholar, was eating breakfast with Abbey, the human sword master.

Amarantha and Rain decided to sit with Na'al and Abbey for breakfast since the troll usually caused some kind of trouble when he was drinking. Since that was always, they usually avoided him unless they needed muscle for something. Dodging Na'al's gigantic lizard's tail, the ladies each took a seat at the table to order their meals.

Upon noticing the women enter the room, Con tried to buy them all drinks, to which they refused because the sun was just barely up. They then each ordered breakfast while making friendly conversation amongst themselves.

Con continued the aimless banter he had started with a dwarf, who was sitting near him in the pub. Somehow, the inebriated brute realized that there was no entertainment, and boisterously vocalized his wish for that to change.

Overhearing this Abbey turned toward him and declared, "Rain and I can dance while A sings." She cheerfully smiled at her intoxicated partner.

"Yeah! Get up there and entertain for us. Barkeep! What are you gonna pay these girls for entertaining?" The troll slurred slightly.

"I pay nothing for entertainers," the surly barkeep announced.

"Not even one silver?" He asked.

Rain interjected, "That's not really necessary." At the big guy's confused expression, she continued, "I have a job for the day so I will be busy."

Con screwed up his face as if something bitter had assaulted his senses. "What job?" Having known only of their need to await those library guys and whatever they were doing, he wanted to know about this new mission.

"Not that it is really his business," Rain muttered to A. Her comment was greeted with a smirk. "I was hired by a mining company and will be mining…stuff," she told the obstinate troll.

"But that's a man's job," Con replied ignorantly. "You can't do that kind of job, because you are not a man," he declared as if he had a stroke of genius.

"Neither are you," Na'al, who had been sitting quietly through all of this interceded.

"I'm a troll. I am strong enough for any job," Con disputed having drunkenly missed the point. "You women should let men do the hard work like mining," he tried to clarify unsuccessfully.

A short, heavily bearded dwarven woman stood from her chair across the room and made her way over to stand in front of the troll. "Some women," she started in a gruff tone, "be stronger than any man."

"Huh?" The brute looked around and upon sighting the dwarf, who would barely reach his mid-thigh if he stood up, he laughed outright. "Like who?" he scoffed.

"Like me you oaf!" she shouted.

Slowly he realized that the bearded fellow before him was actually a woman. "Whatever, this doesn't concern you," he muttered.

"Oh, the troll has to intimidate a little girl, because he's afraid of a stout dwarf woman," she taunted.

Feverishly, Con responded with a savage strike with his pole-ax. This, the dwarf nimbly reposted with her broadsword. The reflected blade struck the drunken troll in the forehead creating a deep gash only serving to enrage further him.

Meanwhile, Na'al look at Rain and suggested that they leave this place, while the troll was distracted. Just before the women left the inn for the day, the lizard woman whispered conspiratoriously to the dwarven woman, "I hear he especially hates dwarven women." Then she quickly fled the room.

The red-eyed brute quickly attacked again and once again, the little woman repelled his strike. She laughed at Con when he struck a third time. She easily dodged his blade this time and laughed even harder at his bumbling.

Unfortunately, the dwarf was laughing too hard to avoid the next blow, which she took full on. The barkeep quickly stepped in to break up the fight. "That's enough of that! I don't want to have to deal with the guard if someone dies here so knock it off."

The fight quickly broke off from there and the troll went back to drinking, while he desperately tried to explain to all the patrons present that he didn't hate women at all. In fact, he used to be married to a troll woman and he was happy until she died.

Another dwarf responded, "So you like troll women then." At the troll's affirmative nod, he pressed, "Well what do you think of dwarf women then?"

"Um, well…" Con tried to gather his senses enough to respond without getting another beating. "They're alright, I guess. A little to small for me, but most women are." Looking at all those present to gauge how that answer was received, he added, "Barkeep! A round of your best ale for everyone!"

This seemed to pacify the dwarves enough not gang up on him, and that is how he spent the rest of his day.

The day progressed without a hitch for most of the adventurers. Amarantha managed to teach her apprentice a new skill by the end of the day. Na'al browsed the vast marketplace looking for anything interesting without buying, since she was seriously lacking in the funds department. Abbey went to her trainer trying to better herself as an adept.

Unfortunately for Rain, her day, which had started out with the significant bump of a troll, only went spiraling downhill quickly once she got her assignment in the mine. She went to her appropriated area and on her first attempt at extracting anything, she pulled out a keystone causing a cave in. for the remaining portion of her day, she sat in front of a large pile of rubble blocking her path to the surface.


End file.
